Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games 2008 [OLD VERSION]

I've never bought Hoyle software before, but this package offers mucho bang for the buck, given that most downloadable shareware games are $20 per game. There are several addictive games in here, and they run flawlessly on my Mac Pro as well as my G4.I have only 3 complaints in order of increasing importance:1. The graphics are quite low-res and lack the beauty of many of the new games for Mac that adopt the elegant graphical style of the OS.2. The rules for all the games are in a single pdf file, so if you click on rules, you have to wait for a pdf reader to load and then search a large document to find your game.3. There's little progression in games as you play longer and better. There are high scores in a menu, but each game is basically the same thing over and over, so you never get a sense of progressing through higher levels. Some games have more difficult levels to choose from, but if you select a certain level and play for an hour, you get no sense in terms of points or levels reached that you've accomplished anything.But if you want a large variety of mindless games for your Mac, there is no better deal than this.

What a great value! For the price I didn't expect much, but was pleasantly surprised, there are lots of different games such as Battleship, Pool, Amalgrams, & Chess, just to name a few, and you get to design your own avatar! Some games are meant to be played alone, while others can be played with more that 1 person (or you can play against a pre-existing avatar). There are also different skill levels, as well as different versions of some of the games, such as solitaire & pool. My 12 yr old & 9 year old really enjoy, it, too.Don't expect the games to be on par with premium high priced software geared toward serious gamers, keep in mind that you are getting 60 games for $19.99 (when it first came out). But for casual fun, this is a value that can't be beat!

Reviewers of subsequent versions prefer THIS version to what came after, apparently things are going downhill. I am the owner of a 2005 version and see no difference whatsoever between this and the 2005. The only reason I got it is because this one does run in Vista 64-bit and the earlier one did not.The games are exactly the same (which is not too bad); the options for spacemaker, facemaker, and point rewards are exactly the same; the instructions and help for the games is exactly the same (which means, some games have mediocre instructions/help and other games have none.)Another difference is that, now that I have a much larger monitor with much higher resolution I am having difficulty finding a comfortable way to play: my options are either "full screen" which takes over the monitor, stretches the interface to the point of distortion, and results in a fuzzier (less sharp) interface OR "reduced" which, while sharp, is only to one pre-determined size which is too small. There is no way to pull the window to enlarge it to some sort of middle ground.Oh, and this version also runs on Mac.

I bought this to use on a Mac, but it didn't work. Unfortunately, it didn't say PC only in the ad. At this point in time, it won't work on either a Mac or a PC because it needs a code to open, and the company no longer supports this game hence no way to get the opening code.

I love that this is available for the Mac. That said, it is no where near as good as the really old WIN 98 version which I am still running on XP.The reason I gave this 2 stars is because the DVD has to be inserted to play the game. My friend has the exact same game and version and the physical DVD has different artwork on it. He was also able to register the product (serial number on packaging) and play w/o the Dvd. This DVD did not give that option, so I don't believe it's the original product. Also the DVD was not shipped in the original box only a jewel case. Buyer Beware. I may return it to the seller Digitalville

If you're familiar with the Hoyle family, you know that the games are fun and the characters add some depth. This package follows that path and adds the element of earning "Hoyle Bucks" as you play. It would be better if the rewards worked for all of the games. In Rummy Squares, you cannot earn the rewards for "Blow-Out" or "Mega Blow-Out." Also, Pachisi doesn't work well on a PC (fine on Mac). It's very difficult to move the pieces and it will often move them to spaces that you were not intending. I would love to see a version of this where those two items were fixed.

I have other Hoyle games so when I saw a Sudoku for Vista by Hoyle, I just knew it would be good. I have a PC with Windows XP and it works great. I also loaded it on my laptop that has Windows Vista. All the other games work but Sudoku won't work. I emailed Hoyle and they sent me a patch. Still didn't work. They figured out what graphics I have and sent me to Intel for another update. It still doesn't work. It's really a great game but not if Sudoku is what you want and you have Windows Vista.

I truly enjoy Hoyle games. I don't like the help feature of the game. The older board games took you directly to the help section for the game you were playing when you clicked on help. You have to search extensive for the section you want in the newer versions. I have purchased both the Board and Card Games for 2008. The board games doesn't respond to the mouse as efficiently as the card game does. I have to click more on the puzzle/board game than I do for the card game.